


"I think I've been holding myself from falling in love with you all over again."

by Yuuki_Nyanmaru



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:35:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22174906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuuki_Nyanmaru/pseuds/Yuuki_Nyanmaru
Summary: World really had to give him troubles, since he can't even relax at that summer festival. Among everyone he could have met, why his ex-boyfriend?!
Relationships: Aiba Masaki/Sakurai Sho, Ohno Satoshi/Sakurai Sho
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9
Collections: Sakuraiba Tanabata 2019-2020





	"I think I've been holding myself from falling in love with you all over again."

**Author's Note:**

> Sixteenth drabble of the Sakuraiba Tanabata 2019-2020! Please, read the end notes as well! ^^
> 
> I'm sorry but this will be angst. I warn you...

“Ah, sorry,” Sakurai excused himself as he bumped unintentionally on a stranger.

For many people, summer festivals were ‘lively’; they liked its atmosphere, which wrapped them up in that fictitious bubble of joy. Well, maybe for them it was real, but for him, it was completely fake.

His beliefs were surely influenced by that awful festival of some years ago, during which he had been dumped, but there had never been a point in his life where he had been fond of this kind of event.

“I fell in love with someone else…” he mumbled, as he moved toward a quieter area in the park, “Just say that you’ve cheated on me, don’t give me that crap.”

“Now you’ve started to talk alone?”

Sho turned and found Ohno with a plastic bag in his hand, full of water and some goldfish, “As expected, you’ve won.”

“Of course,” the man said, raising up the bag so Sakurai could look better at the fishes, “Anyway, what was that about?”

“What are you referring to?”

“Oh, come on!” Ohno teased, giving him a knowing look.

“I was just recalling the past,” he replied, placing his hand in his pockets and resuming to walk.

He heard the other man sighing and, immediately, he held his hand, “Don’t worry, it’s just because I’m still pissed off.”

“No need to justify yourself, I get it. You and Aiba had a long and serious relationship, while we started dating only recently. It’s obvious that you still think about him,” his boyfriend reassured him.

“Even more when the idiot cheated on me,” he spat out, his rage surfacing gradually.

“Didn’t you tell me that he denied that?”

“Yeah, but, honestly? I don’t believe him. He must have done something on that business trip. But let’s not think about him anymore, it’s already horrible that he had been moved to my team now.”

“World really hates you,” the older man laughed.

Satoshi was right. Be it the world, luck, a witch, or whatever, something lived for giving him troubles.

For once, everything was going fine in his life: he had got a promotion, he had finally moved on and had begun a new relationship. He was really looking forward to reading that new page of his life, but the wind decided to bring him back on that same damn page.

Being in the same company wasn’t the best, but luckily Aiba worked for another department, far from his, so he rarely bumped into him. However, the head department had really put Masaki and Sho in the same working team, in charge of the new ads for the company’s latest product.

He was obligated to spend his days with his ex. An actual hell.

“Sho-kun.”

“What is it?”

Ohno only signalled him to look at their right. Halting his movements, Sakurai stared at the last person he wanted to meet that night, “This festival can’t get any worse.”

Aiba, wearing a troubled expression, approached them.

“Hi,” the taller man greeted them.

“Hello,” he replied, not hiding the annoyance in his tone.

“So, you’re here too. Didn’t you hate festivals?”

“My boyfriend wanted to go.”

“Ah,” Aiba said, moving his gaze on the shortest man, “Nice to meet you, I’m Aiba Masaki.”

“I’m Ohno Satoshi,” the man replied. Ohno’s tone was always gentle with everyone, no matter what. His lover knew that his biggest quality, kindness, was also his biggest flaw, but he couldn’t help it. You couldn’t go against your nature.

“Ohno-san, can I speak to your boyfriend for a moment? It’s work-related.”

“You should ask him, not me,” Satoshi said.

“You’re right,” the other man chuckled and looked again at Sho, “So, can we?”

No, they couldn’t. He didn’t want to have a single word with him. However, since he stated that it was about work, he had to accept. He was diligent in his job after all.

Sighing, he nodded, “It will take just five minutes,” he said to his lover, leaving a kiss on his cheek before following Aiba. Okay, maybe he had done that for making his ex-boyfriend jealous, but all is fair in love and war, and that was definitely a war.

“So, today I’ve printed the schedule we thought for the promotional campaign, complete with all the charts, schemes and drafts of the ads.”

“So, everything is ready for tomorrow’s meeting,” Sakurai commented.

“Yes.”

“Good.”

Silence filled the space between the two of them, before Aiba coughed, “So, he seems nice.”

Sho furrowed his eyebrows at first but then went along with that awkward conversation, “Yeah, he really is. He is kind, funny, sweet and, especially, faithful.”

“How many times do I have to tell you that I didn’t cheat on you?! I could never do that!” Aiba hissed, containing his voice so that they wouldn’t gather attention from the passers-by.

“Well, anyway, I hope that you two are happy and in love and-”

“We broke up after half a year.”

Sakurai was left speechless, “I didn’t know...Sorry.”

“It’s fine. It was mutual. The attraction ended soon and we realized that, aside from that, we weren’t really compatible and that we didn’t really love each other. I understood that I shouldn’t have left you, but I couldn’t come back just like that. It would have been unfair, and you deserve someone better,” Aiba confessed.

“I would have taken you back.”

“...Eh?”

“If you had contacted me and explained everything, apologized and such, I would have taken you back.”

“But, you believe that I cheated on you-”

“I say that only because it’s easier to forget someone when you hate them.”

Again, silence fell over them and, again, it was Masaki the one to break it, “You know, these past months have been very difficult for me. I was afraid to stand again in front of you, knowing that in your eyes I was trash. And to make it worse…” the man trailed off.

“To make it worse…?” he urged him.

Aiba bit his lower lip nervously, “I think I’ve been holding myself from falling in love with you all over again.”

Sho looked down, closing his eyes. That was the worst development he had thought of. But he had to be strong, he had to be resolute and stick with the decision he had taken. He took a deep breath and, firmly, turned again the page of his life to the present.

“I have to go, Satoshi-kun is waiting for me,” he mumbled.

“Sho-chan,” Aiba stopped him, calling him how he used to do in the past. It was so precious and important, that he had asked Ohno to not use that. He had told him that he hated it, but the truth was that the only ‘ _Sho-chan_ ’ he wanted to hear belonged to Masaki’s mouth.

“What?” his voice trembled.

“Is it too late, isn’t it?” the man chuckled bitterly.

“Yes.”

Without saying anything else, he walked away, hoping to have finally closed that sorrowful chapter.

**Author's Note:**

> HEY HEY YOU WHO ARE READING THIS SAKURAIBA DRABBLE. YES YOU.
> 
> Did you know that this year there will be a Sakuraiba Exchange? No? Then, head over the [dreamwidth community](https://sakuraibaexchange.dreamwidth.org/) (everyone having either a LJ, DW or AO3 account can join) if you're interested! The mods, Cherry & Leaf, have contacted me and asked me if I could spread the word even here, and of course I have accepted! ^^  
> The sign up post is already up and it will close on the 16th so, if you're a writer and you want to join, hurry up and send in your application! Let's make this a beautiful exchange together~ <3
> 
> P.S: please spread the word, so many writers will know and will consider to join ^^


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